This Week's Best Album Streams: 3rd April 2012

This week's list has been the hardest to compile. Not because of lack of quality on the internets, but the exact opposite. Streams by Wallis Earl Beal and Chromatics, two of 2012’s finest albums, have dominated my listening time, only interrupted by watching Orbital’s Wonky video and listening to, our SXSW correspondent, Shell Zenner's new show on Amazing Radio (Friday 1pm peeps). It’s been a good week.

But, like a cheeky fag between bands, old habits die hard and come the evening the cravings for a new stream fix are rampaging. Luckily my late nights in headphones have been well spent; swooning over the remarkable Lindsay Fuller and lifting my jaw off the floor after hearing Clark. So put those memories of Viva Brother to rest and enjoy the best of this week's album streams.

Fuller’s crunching country is ruggedly authentic with minor chords, shattering drums and a vibrato voice similar to Lucinda Williams at her most rawkus. Although she now resides in Seattle, You, Anniversary still oozes Southern death-grit and gothic Hammond confessionals which would make Nick Cave shudder, and marks her as a unparalleled talent. Forget those fey beardy-hipster Americana types, Fuller is the real deal and a definite name for the future. And yes, you do owe me for introducing her to you.

Now The Black Keys are proper superstars we need Alabama Shakes to fill our rootsy rock socks and they’re happily obliging. Boys and Girls is full on from the start, with Stones riffs clawing at the speakers and Brittney Howard’s raw soul voice evangelising with aplomb. This is old fashioned (read timeless) rock n roll fresh straight outta ’71.

Once you see past the 60s So-Cal sheen, London’s Weird Dreams’ post punk angularisms become clear, particularly on the almost disjoined Faceless. It manages to balance traditional psych melodies with noir-C86 guitars without pandering to either. Instead, it creates an intriguing juxtaposition of styles which sound eternal and wonderful. Its dark harmonies combine to create a truly exciting debut album.

My man and boy love of Orbital is no secret, be it arms in the air at festivals or ‘tired’ in a corner of a sweaty venue. So can I be objective about Wonky? Yes. It lacks their signature euphoria and the beats are slightly wayward, yet they’re able to make an album which ignores trends to create an invigorating dance record without any pretentions.

With a guitar and the gentlest voice Julie Ann Baenzinger is able to conjure visions of love and loss battling across a great wilderness. Orangefarben is more mature than her debut and rooted in tinglingly classic American twee-rock. The heart wrenchingly DIY cover of John Denver’s Leaving 'On A Jet Plane', alone makes it an essential and wonderful listen.

Recording Iradelphic pretty much all over the world during different periods has allowed Clark to craft a phenomenally disjointed album of piercing rhythms and live instrumentation without giving in to naff world-tronica. His production majesty allows prog-rock-lite synths to sound confidently humble between itchy bleeps and creeping bass. Clark’s ability to flutter between genres, while remaining grounded in innovation, makes Iradelphic a masterpiece.

A hip hop concept album about two friends trying to be rappers is hardly the greatest idea, especially from a band whose heyday was 20 years ago. Luckily, First Serve is more of a slick 70s homage than overblown hip-opera. It manages to sound both cinematic and, with Tennis and Must B The Music, enjoyably anthemic. A great return.

Related Posts

Britain is a very different place than it was just seven days ago. Last Thursday, we went to our local polling stations in our... erm, single digits, and voted to make a vital change to the way the police work in this country. Gone are the ineffective, corrupt bobbies that patrolled our streets for hundreds of years; in their place, a fleet of hyper-capable, bulletproof lawmen with an inability to be bribed and a prime directive for upholding the law.
[read more]

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas! By which I mean I have no money in my bank account, the BBC are trailing festive editions of their biggest hits (just the same as normal, only, with snow), and music journalists are breathlessly compiling their year-end lists. They're jumping the gun a little bit, though - we've still go 26 days of 2012/the world as we know it yet, and there's still a surprising amount of good music being released. Look! Here's some of it!
[read more]

Y'know, I could write about pretty much whatever I want in here? I could write about how bat-shit crazy the Spider-Man comics are getting at the moment. I could write about how I saw Django Unchained the other day and it was wicked. I could write about how I watched the Dolly Parton/Queen Latifah gospel singer dramedy Joyful Noise, too, but that was less than wicked. But I probably won't, because you probably wouldn't read it, because you just want to hear the music, don't you?
[read more]

So how about those Grammys, eh? Yeah I don't have an opinion on the Grammys. And neither should you – they're a institution of fossils who somehow have retained their basic auditory functions, but perfectly preserved their Jurassic musical tastes. Which is why Mumford and Sons have featured heavily in the ceremony the past couple of years.
[read more]